Northern Arch

This is such a great dive site. Often voted as the top site at the Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve - New Zealands premier dive location. It's not a site that can be dived all the time - certain conditions and times make diving there fairly hairy but when the conditions are right it is superb indeed. As the name suggests it is an arch at the northern end of Tawhiti Rahi island. The archway is famous for the congregation of stingray that are often found in the archway. Yet in recent years these have been less and less. The walls of the arch are what I was in awe of with with amazing gorgonian life and a miriad of encrusting life and fish life. Truly superb indeed.*****A vertical crack running down a prominent point of northern Tawhiti Rahi, it is home to large schools of demoiselles, red snapper, pink and blue mao mao and trevally. Stunning encrusting life on the walls include gorgonian soft corals, bryozoans with their attendant grazing nudibranchs, hydroids and colourful anemones.The feature of this site though, are the stingrays that congregate here every year, from December to March. On any one dive in that period, it is not uncommon to see upwards of 100 shorttailed rays, hovering, and then gliding up and down the walls, riding the gentle currents. They come here to find a mate and breed, then depart for the harbours of northern New Zealand. Of course, like every site at the '�Knights', this area has more to offer than the arch itself, from the airbubble cave on the northern side, to yellow banded cave of the south, the deep swimthroughs for experienced divers, the masses of snapper and pink mao mao off the point; there is rich colour everywhere'�..But the Rays!